Experience Banner Elk in its earliest days during Lees-McRae Summer Theatre’s performance of From the Mountaintop: The Edgar Tufts Story starting July 11

Get to know the man that brought Banner Elk to life and changed the course of its history forever during the Lees-McRae Summer Theatre performance of From the Mountaintop: The Edgar Tufts Story starting July 11.

The second of three performances during the summer, From the Mountaintop: The Edgar Tufts Story recounts the life of Tufts—a man who arrived to the region in the late 1800s as a seminary student to organize a church, and later went on to establish the Banner Elk Presbyterian Church, Lees-McRae College, Cannon Memorial Hospital, and Grandfather Home for Children.

The musical, written by Janet Barton Speer with songs and lyrics by John Thomas Oaks and Tommy Oaks, follows Tufts from his earliest struggles as a motherless teenager to his ultimate triumphs in Banner Elk.

“When I came to Lees-McRae in 1978, I was captivated by the story of Rev. Edgar Tufts,” Speer said. “Edgar Tufts became enamored with mountain people [when he first arrived here]—most uneducated, but abundant in wisdom and wiliness to work an unforgiving land. Banner Elk is a town based on service, and it still is. The service of learning, the service of attending to marginalized children, the service of healing, and the service of faith. Our history of service deserves celebration and that’s what we hope to do with this play.”

The show will premiere July 11 in Hayes Auditorium and Broyhill Theatre with additional performances July 12, 13, and 16 at 7 p.m. and matinee shows July 14, 16, and 17 at 2 p.m.

Individual show tickets range in price, per person, from $38–43 for adults, to $18–20 for students and/or children. Tickets can now be purchased online, by mail request, or at the box office.